Ex-Met Lenny Dykstra Convicted of Lewd Conduct, Assault

April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Lenny Dykstra, the former Major
League Baseball player already serving a three-year prison term
for grand theft auto, was convicted of lewd conduct and assault
after pleading no contest to the charges.

The former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies
outfielder was sentenced to 270 days in jail and three years’
probation, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said today
in a statement revising the jail term listed in the original
announcement.

Dykstra, 48, told women who came to meet with him in
response to advertisements he placed on Craigslist for personal
assistants and housekeeping services that the job would also
require giving him massages, according to the city attorney. He
exposed himself to the women and on one occasion held a knife to
force a victim to massage him, prosecutors said.

Last year, Dykstra pleaded no contest to charges he tried
to lease cars using phony business cards and credit information.
While a no contest plea is technically not an admission of
guilt, it is equivalent to a guilty plea as far as possible
punishment is concerned.

Separately, Dykstra is awaiting trial on federal
bankruptcy-fraud charges. Last year prosecutors accused him of
looting his mansion in Thousand Oaks, California, and stealing
or destroying more than $400,000 worth of property from his
bankrupt estate.

Bankruptcy Filing

Prosecutors said he removed, destroyed and sold property
from his $18.5 million mansion after filing for bankruptcy in
2009 in California. Dykstra shipped chandeliers, mirrors,
artwork and other items to a consignment store, according to
court filings.

Dykstra pleaded not guilty to those charges in June.

The name of Dykstra’s lawyer in the lewd-conduct case
wasn’t immediately available. Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for
the city attorney’s office, and Christopher Dybwad, Dykstra’s
federal public defender in the bankruptcy fraud case, didn’t
immediately return calls for comment on the lewd-conduct
conviction.

The auto theft case is People v. Dykstra, PA070678,
Superior Court of California (Los Angeles County). The looting
case is U.S. v. Dykstra, 11-415, U.S. District Court, Central
District of California (Los Angeles). The bankruptcy case is In
re Dykstra, 09-18409, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of
California (San Fernando Valley).